NBTA Raises Lobbying Spending, Hires D.C. Firm
The National Business Travel Association quadrupled its U.S. federal government lobbying expenditure in the first half of 2007 to $80,000, compared with each of the three previous six-month periods, according to federal lobbying disclosure filings.
The documents show that in 2007 NBTA lobbied the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration on issues including passenger prescreening, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and biometric passport technology.
In the most recent report, which covers Jan. 1 to June 30, 2007, NBTA increased its efforts to address the federal airline passenger bill of rights, taxes on rental car customers, passport delays and "implementing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007."
NBTA executive director and COO Bill Connors attributed the "chunk" of the spending increase to the contracting of Washington, D.C.-based Monument Policy Group to handle the association's lobbying efforts, which were previously handled internally on a part-time basis. Hiring the lobbying firm enabled NBTA to have more "direct contact with the right decision makers on Capitol Hill," Connors said.
While Connors said he "doesn't see the spending going way beyond $80,000," overall government relations spending will continue to rise as NBTA increases its focus on state and local issues affecting the business travel industry. NBTA in 2008 has budgeted for 17 percent of its revenues to be allocated to government relations, a 4 percent increase over 2007 and more than double 2006 spending.
"We're going to be spending a lot of time on the traveler tax issue all around the country," said Connors. "Everywhere some locality decides they need money for some crazy project and they look at the travel industry as a big target."
In addition, NBTA's lobbying efforts will continue to address the Registered Traveler program, which has been on the association's lobbying agenda since the second half of 2005, according to the lobbying disclosure forms. "Anything that allows screeners to focus on more unknowns than knowns is a good thing for security and anything that saves business travelers time is a good thing for productivity," Connors said.